"Toward The Church--Teaching" (Acts 20:20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/10/2018 7:01 AM

My Worship Time                                                          Focus: “Toward The Church—Teaching”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 20:20

            Message of the verses:  “20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,”

            Paul knew that the main job that he had was to teach as he wrote in Ephesians 4:12 “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;” I have heard many times that the Christian faith is only one generation of becoming obsolete, and so Paul knew that he had to teach the truth to those in the churches that he began so that they could continue to teach the next generation.  He especially taught this truth to his son in the Lord, Timothy.  Because of this truth Paul reminded the Ephesian leaders that he “did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable.”  John MacArthur writes “Shrink from is from hupostello, which also appears in verse 27 and means ‘to draw back’ or ‘to withhold.’  Paul held back nothing of the wise counsel and holy, sovereign purposes of God; he withheld no doctrine, exhortation, or admonition that was profitable.”

            Let us take a look at Proverbs 29:25 which warn us that “The fear of man brings a snare.”  As we look at the life of Paul we see that he had no such fears.  I now want to look at when Paul confronted Peter as seen in Galatians 2:11-21:

“11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. 13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? 15 “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. 17 “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 “For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. 20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."”

            Paul was a man who knew the truth of God and taught that truth and it did not matter who it was who was not living out that truth he would confront even Peter who was the leader of the twelve.  I want to say that at this time Peter was not the leader of the church at Jerusalem as we saw it spoken of in our passage from Galatians where Paul wrote “12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision.”  When we see that these men came from “James” it speaks of him being the leader of the church in Jerusalem, and this James who also wrote the book of James was the Lord’s half brother.

            Let us now look at something that David wrote from Psalm 40:9-10 “9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD, You know. 10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.”  This section from Psalm 40 shows us that David spoke up for the truth of God in Old Testament times.

            Ezekiel does this too as seen in 33:7-9: “7  "Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. 8  "When I say to the wicked, ’O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. 9 “But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.”  We see in this passage that those who shrink from proclaiming God’s truth are subject to God’s chastening.

            I mentioned that Paul wrote to Timothy to make sure that he would pass on the truth that he taught him to the next generation, and in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17 Paul writes what it is that is profitable and how it is to be used: “16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

            As we look at the last part of this verse we see that Paul had two outlets for his teaching as he taught in public as found in Acts 19:8, and in our verse today we see that he went from house to house teaching.  I believe that this speaks of the house churches that were used when the church began. 

            I have named my blogs 2 Timothy 2:15 which goes along with this lesson:  “15 Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Continue to live up to the name of the blogs that I write to each day.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord with the up-coming procedures that I face in the next few weeks.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Moab” (Judges 3:14).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who threw a spear at David?

Answer in our next SD.

7/10/2018 7:35 AM